Halo: Embark
by Sprocker
Summary: A story about a Spartan fighting a new Covenant weapon before the time of the Master Chief. All planets, characters, weapons, vehicles are fictional.
1. Prologue

Halo: Embark

**Prologue**

**July 2, 2502**

**New York General Hospital**

**Earth**

"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair, you've given birth to a baby boy!"

"Jerry, he looks just like you," said Mrs. Sinclair as she smiled.

"I don't know. He takes after both of us!" replied Mr. Sinclair.

They named their child Jason. Jason Sinclair. Master Sergeant Jason Sinclair.

**Christmas, 2532**

**Nachoon II Orbit**

**Pelican 25-0246A**

"Sir…. SIR!"

"What?"

"Sorry Sir, I thought you were sleeping."

"Spartans never sleep!" said Staff Sergeant Timothy Johnson. He turned to the Spartan beside him who was wearing a dark red MJOLNIR Mark IV suit and smiled.

"That's not true. I probably sleep more than all of you guys combined," replied the Spartan. "Just wearing this suit wears me down a lot. They should create a Mark V with a built-in cola dispenser or something."

The whole ship burst into laughter, but the Spartan, Spartan-371 to be specific, didn't find it that funny.

Suddenly, the pilot's voice crackled through the radio.

"All units, this is Alpha 25. We are entering Nachoon II orbit. All systems working, mission is a go."


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: I'd rather stay in the ship**

The Pelican hovered just above the ground of Nachoon II as the Marines and one Spartan dropped out. Then the ramp closed and the Pelican flew back towards the sky with its engines at minimum power to remain stealthy.

"Ok. The power generator of the new weapon is about 2 clicks ahead of us. The other two squads will take some time to get here so I think we should move forward first. What do you think, Sarge?" asked Johnson.

"The force shouldn't be too big. Let's go. We could do with some recon anyway," replied 371.

The whole squad moved into the jungles, climbing a steep hill. From the top, they could get a good view of the power generator and set up a sniper team.

Once they reached the top, one of the Marines took out a pair of binoculars.

"I see the generator, Sir. There are quite a number of Covenant troops, but I think we can take them out," said the Marine softly. "Two turrets positioned on both sides of the generator's ramp."

"Turrets, eh? I think our snipers can take care of that. Ok here's the plan, we set up a sniper squad here. Then the rest of us move in to the generator and once I give the signal, the snipers kill the grunts on the turrets and we move in," said Johnson to the troops. "Of course, we need to wait for the rest of the squads to arrive. Carlson, contact Bravo & Charlie squad and find out where they are."

The Marine nodded moved to the edge of the cliff for a better signal. Before he could radio in, something exploded in the sky.

"Mayday, Mayday this is Bravo 1. We've been hit by Banshees and we're going down, repeat, we're going do…"

Before the pilot completed his transmission they lost contact.

"Damn," said Johnson. "What about Charlie?"

"Alpha 1, this is UNSC _Embark_. Bravo squad's ship has been shot down. We've called back Charlie. You're on your own for this mission. Objectives are the same. Destroy the power generator of the Covenant sound weapon."

After the transmission, most of the Marines were obviously pissed off.

"Leave us with the most dangerous jobs. Assholes," said one Marine.

"Yeah, F…"

"Don't you dare, Private," said 371. "We can do it ourselves. We'll stick to Johnson's plan. Let's move!"

Encouraged by the Spartan's bravery, the Marines all followed him down, with two of them remaining at the cliff, setting up a sniper position.

Soon, the squad was in the forest near the generator. They crept in slowly.

"We'll split up into two squads. I'll lead Alpha, Sarge, take Bravo," said Johnson as he checked his rifle, making sure it wasn't stuck or anything.

371 nodded and led a group of Marines to the left side of the generator.

"Bravo in position," radioed 371.

"Alpha in position," radioed Johnson. "Operation is a go."

Johnson kept his eye on one of the grunts on the turret. Suddenly, his head blew up. Literally.

"Alpha, Brave, GO GO GO!" screamed Johnson. Both squads stormed in at the same time, flanking the Covenant. The sniper team was also picking out individual targets.

"Eat this scum!" screamed Johnson as he tore into a group of grunts. More Covenant troops were pouring out from a door that led underground.

371 cut through two Elites before the Marine next to him went mad when a plasma grenade stuck to his knee.

"Get it off me, get it off me!' he screamed. The grenade detonated and he was blown to bits, taking a few grunts with him.

"Sarge, we need to get underground if we want to destroy the generator!" shouted Johnson amidst the heavy firefight. "I'll take one Marine and we'll go inside together!"

"Alright," replied 371. He threw a fragmentation grenade into the entrance. After it blew up he, along with Johnson and the Marine rushed inside the entrance.

They shut down the entrance door so that no more Covenant troops could enter. As the proceeded forward through the corridor they were met with a group of elites.

The Marine, Corporal Zack Vice, wisely took one of the plasma rifles another Elite dropped and fired it at the group. He, along with the hot lead from 371 & Johnson, quickly eliminated the group.

"Assault rifles," said Vice as he turned to Johnson and 371. "I never trusted them."

The three-man team proceeded through the corridor reached the end. There were two doors, but one was jammed, although a whack with a rifle would have done the trick.

The team chose the one which was perfectly fine. The stacked up and 371 opened the door. Hordes of Elites, Grunts and Jackals fired at them. They rushed for an energy shield. Before they could make it to the shield, a stray plasma shot cut Vice down.

Johnson took the plasma rifle and unleashed it upon the Covenant forces, while 371, well trained with the assault rifle, stuck with his favorite weapon.

"They seem to be heavily defending something," said Johnson as he shot up a group of grunts. "I think the controls to the generator are beyond that door."

371 rushed for another energy shield as a Jackal unleashed a charged plasma shot against the shield he was using.

"We need to get to the controls before they activate the self-destruct system. We just need to shut down the power and then destroy the control interface. A self-destruct system will destroy the whole of Nachoon," shouted 371.

Suddenly, red flooded the room as alarms rang.

"Uh, Sarge, I think…" said Johnson as he stared around the room, trying to find the source of the sound. "I think we're too late."

The Covenant around the room went mad. They no longer cared about 371 and Johnson, they just wanted to escape. This gave 371 and Johnson a good chance to kill them. They quickly shot the Covenant before they could return any well-aimed fire.

"We don't have much time to shut down the self-destruct system. Contact Touchdown, get him to LZ one now. Get the Marines on the surface to do the same," said 371 as he ran towards the control interface. A lone Elite was in the room, pacing around and mumbling something. While Johnson contacted the Marines and Touchdown, 371 engaged the Elite. It took a plasma pistol and fired back. 371 fired with well placed bursts and the Elite dropped easily.

They reached the control interface. 371 pressed some buttons and the alarms stopped ringing. The whole power generator shut down. Outside, the retreating Marines were shocked when the whole place when dark. They stopped to stare at the generator.

Boom.

The power beam shot up through the generator, shaking the whole of Nachoon II. The Marines picked themselves up and continued their run.

Inside the generator, everything was collapsing. 371 and Johnson knew it was time to flee. They escaped the room back to the one where they had their firefight with the Covenant.

"I checked the interface, there's a shortcut over there," said 371 as he pointed to a door. Before they could reach it, pieces from the roof fell, blocking the entrance.

"Damn!" shouted Johnson as he was helped up by 371. "How the hell do we get out now?"

"Lets head back to the entrance; we can use the interface there to re-open the door.

The two men rushed back to where they came from, only to find that debris had destroyed the entrance controls.

"We're too late," said Johnson solemnly. "We're stuck here."

371 scanned the room. He saw something that gave both men a glimmer of hope.

"Not yet," said 371. He rushed to the jammed door they saw earlier, with Johnson trailing behind. He used the butt of his rifle and knocked the door down. Ahead of him was a lift they could take up.

They rushed to through the lift doors and pressed some buttons on the panel. Then the doors slowly closed, with debris following just a few inches away from the lift doors. The two men stood away from the door until it closed shut.

"I think I just developed claustrophobia," said Johnson as he sat down, rubbing his forehead.

Outside, Touchdown had landed, and the Marines were already boarding.

"Where's 371 and Johnson?" asked the pilot.

"They were inside the generator. They told us to go to the LZ first.

"Try to contact them. If we can't reach them… we'll have to assume the worst," said the pilot.

"Master Sergeant Jason-371 and Staff Sergeant Johnson, do you read?" said the Marine into the radio. He repeated it a few times. He looked at the pilot and shook his head.

"Let's go then," said the pilot as he started the ship.

"UNSC _Embark, _this is Touchdown. Mission accomplished. Power generator is destroyed but there's a high chance Nachoon II will be too. We're leaving right now in case we get caught up. Over and…"

The Pelican suddenly dipped to the left.

"Oh crap, a Elite who doesn't want to be left behind?" asked the pilot.

"Lieutenant, no, it's Sarge!" shouted the Marine in shock.

371 climbed on board.

"Trying to leave without us? Johnson is still down there. Hurry up and pick him up before he gets left behind in Nachoon," said 371 as he sat beside one Marine.

The Pelican landed again and Johnson came on board. He shut up this time because they needed to get out of Nachoon quick. The Pelican went full speed out of Nachoon II.

Just as the Pelican was about to board the _Embark_, Nachoon II exploded, with billions of pieces of debris heading towards the _Embark_.

"Shields up and prepare to jump out of here."

The ship's shields went up and the hangar bay door closed.

As the Marines and 371 exited the Pelican, they all fell as debris hit.

A voice came over the intercom.

"All personnel, we are jumping to the Solar System to head back to the UNSC Space Station above Earth for repairs. Please be strapped down immediately. Thank you."

Everyone on the hangar went for seats placed around the hangar and strapped up. Then, they were literally stuck to their chairs as the _Embark_ entered slipspace.


End file.
